Dark Receding
by moviegeek03
Summary: Despite Sam's protests for more research, Dean and John drag him along on what is supposed to be a simple hunt.  An unexpected creature quickly causes a pain for the youngest that neither John nor Dean saw coming.  Sam-16   Dean-20


Summary: Sam gets dragged into a salt and burn by his dad and older brother, despite his protests that the family needs to wait and research into the hunt first. When the older Winchesters ignore him, an unexpected creature quickly causing a pain for the youngest that neither John nor Dean saw coming. Sam – 16 and Dean - 20

A/N: This stems from a plot bunny offered up by khakigrrl on livejournal who wanted some a Teen!Winchester fic where Sam gets hurt with an injury that either Dean or John have had in the past. However, with Sam the injury feels much worse. This is my first time writing preseries, so I hope you all enjoy :D

Chapter 1

"Come on, Josh," Erica called out into the dark. "Let's get the hell out of here. These is seriously giving me the creeps."

"Awww….Little baby afraid of a few headstones, huh?" Josh playfully shoved his little sister closer to one of grave markers. The girl jumped and shrieked as her arm came into contact with the dust and spider web covered headstone.

"God, you're such an ass, Josh." Erica fell into step with her brother, walking with her arms cautiously wrapped tight around her smaller frame.

Josh sighed, "Look, I'm just messing with ya, Ric. You know there are no such things as ghosts."

"Then why the hell are we even out here then?"

Josh sighed and rolled his eyes before explaining to his sister what they were doing. "Mr. Marks, the history teacher, told us about some witch that was arrested and imprisoned in the old Taylor Prison, the one on the other side of the cemetery. Some of the inmates were pretty religious and freaked at having a witch in there with them. So they all murdered her one night, sometime in October. After she died, a bunch of weird stuff went down, prisoners ended up with these weird scratches and bites. It's all probably total bullshit, but you know how some of the guys are. They all got really into it, sayin' they were gonna go and check out the prison and the witch's gravesite."

"So you decided to be the idiot that followed along?"

"No, Ric, it's more complicated ok?"

"Let me guess," Erica sidestepped around to face her brother, "Allison overheard all of your idiot friends and decided you weren't cool unless you went too." A flash of unease ghosted across the older brother's face. "I should've known! When are you going to realize that girl is a bitch who strings you along every chance she gets, Josh!"

Her words echoed throughout the dark cemetery. Josh ignored her, continuing his search for the witch's grave marker. Moments later the air seemed to turn colder; the brother shrugged it off as the fall weather settling into the night.

The object of his search finally came into his view. A chilling wind picked up, sending a few of the leaves surrounded the marker flying. _Ok, that's a little creepy_. Despite the nerves starting to build in his stomach, Josh crept towards the grave.

Just as he neared the cold stone, his sister let out a startled yelp somewhere off to his side. "Stop it Ric! They're just headstones. Get over here already." The sound of leaves shuffling around soon followed. But Erica never came to his side. A hissing and growling noise started to fill the cemetery as the air seemed to get even colder.

Josh turned to yell at his sister once again, but a figure suddenly loomed over the worried brother.

_Ghosts aren't real…Ghosts aren't real…Ghosts aren't real…_

The mantra raced through his mind until suddenly everything went eerily black…

**SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN**

"Dad we shouldn't go this weekend!"

John Winchester sighed wearily at the sound of his youngest's argument starting up once again.

Dean sat over to the side of their apartment's living room, a car magazine held limply in his hands. His dad and brother had been going at it for a while now. John had heard of a possible haunting in the next town over. Some teens had been found outside of a cemetery bloodied and completely spooked out of their minds a couple of mornings ago.

"Sam, we've been over this already! We need to get over there and do that salt and burn before more people get killed!"

"But dad, no one has died yet! That brother and sister were just being idiots and hanging out at that cemetery. We don't even know what we're dealing with yet!"

Knowing the argument would soon escalate, Dean decided to finally step into the conversation. "Listen Sammy, those idiots said they were out there checking out some old witch's gravesite. The witch is probably still hanging around and got pissed off that some kids were messing with her."

"Dean, we don't have proof yet. Those people had scratches and bites all over their bodies. That doesn't fit a pissed off spirit! For all we know it's some other creature or just some spooked animal!"

"Sam, that's enough!" John's stern voice bellowed through the room. "The inmates at the prison on the other side of the cemetery murdered the women for being a witch. After she died, some of the prisoners started getting unexplained scratches and bites all over their bodies. So that's it, Sam. It's just her spirit again. End of story."

"But Dad…"

"No more buts Sam!" John walked over to his son's desk where a book laid open. John shut the book and held it back out to Sam. "Look I know you have that big test on _Grapes of Wraith _on Monday. You can take it and read in the back of the Impala and in the hotel. But I need you on the salt and burn kiddo. Sorry, but that's all there is to it, son."

Sam tried his best to reign in his frustrations, but they continued to fume under the surface. In order to avoid further blow up, Sam stormed out of the room and headed towards his and Dean's bedroom.

John sighed at the sound of the bedroom door clicking shut. "Damn it! I did not want to start this hunt out like this."

"I'll go talk to him, Dad," Dean sighed tiredly.

John patted Dean's should as his oldest son moved towards the bedroom. John moved back towards the desk to jot down more notes in his journal.

"Sammy?" Dean gently called before sliding the door open when Sam didn't respond.

Sam lay sprawled on his stomach on top of his bed. His book sat opened before him, but it was obvious to Dean that the kid wasn't reading anything. At closer look Dean could've sworn a few tear streaks stained his brother's face.

Dean walked over towards the bed and carefully sat down on the edge. He placed his hand on his brother's back before starting up the conversation.

"Alright Sammy, what's really going on with you?" A confused look flashed across his little brother's face. "Look, I know you've already read that book cover to cover. So what's really going on with you and this hunt?"

Sam sighed and flipped over on his back to face his brother. "It's just…" Sam gazed his eyes down away from Dean's.

"What Sam?"

"I don't think this hunt is as simple as you and dad think it is."

"Sam," Dean started.

"Just hear me out….Please," Sam pleaded. Dean nodded before Sam continued. "I know Dad's research is right. There was a woman, Jean Moss, who was accused of using witchcraft to try to kill her husband. She couldn't afford a good enough lawyer to defend her against her husband's accusations. She was sentenced to life in prison, with the possibility that she could be sentenced to death at a later time. However the other inmates didn't like the idea of having a witch locked up with them. So they killed her one night."

"Damn geek boy," Dean teased with a hint of pride.

A small smile ghosted across Sam's face before he continued with his research findings. "The thing is Dean, she told the police that she didn't try to kill her husband. She claimed he had been cheating on her, and his family did not believe in divorce. It wasn't all that uncommon for women who weren't well to do to get accused of witchcraft back then. But most of the true witches were too clever to ever be caught."

"So you don't think this is a simple spirit haunting?"

"No, I don't. And that's what I was trying to tell Dad."

"Listen, Sammy," Dean finally said. "Dad has looked through all the research you collected, and he's still saying this is a salt and burn."

"He could be wrong Dean! Dad doesn't know everything about hunting like you seem to think!"

"Hey! Cool it! Dad knows more about hunting than you do, Sam."

"That doesn't mean I can't be right about this." Sam couldn't help the forlorn pleading tone from leaking into his voice.

As much as Dean wanted to be there for his brother, he knew that the odds were stacked more in his father's favor. "Just make sure you're ready to leave by six. It's about an hour-long drive over to Taylor. Dad wants to get there so we can do this hunt tonight."

Dean stood from Sam's bed and headed back out of the bedroom. Frustration welled up in Sam once again, but the young hunter moved from the bed and started back up his supplies for the job.

**SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN**

As the Impala sped down the dark back road, a glowing pair of eyes peeked out from within the dense woods. The eyes followed the path of the sleek car as it traveled towards the town. The creature smirked in anticipation of what the night would bring….


End file.
